The average person in an average day would rarely even consider the existence of the tow truck; however, tow trucks are extremely important types of automobiles. Why? Well, the fact of the matter is that the tow truck can play a far greater role in the average individual’s life. A tow truck is, if you don’t already know, a large vehicle that is able to pull other vehicles from different situations. It is generally used for road accidents, but can also be used for repossessions and in construction. Needless to say, tow truck services do generate large amounts of revenue; however, the capital outlay for the truck itself can be more than the income. This article will provide information discussing the tow truck costs of different tow trucks.

The Hook And Chain Truck

The most common form of tow truck is the hook and chain truck. This type of tow truck is typically used for transporting vehicles from one location to another, such as in the case of accidents or in repossessions. It is known as a hook and chain truck because of the separate hook and chain located on the back of the vehicle and used to pull the additional vehicle. This type of truck can be rather costly and, as such, many tow truck companies do require hook and chain truck financing.

The Quick Pick Truck

While the hook and chain truck can be used for repossessions, it is seen that repossession agencies tend to use the quick pick tow truck type. A repossession is a removal of illegally parked, illegally owned, or reclaimed vehicle as debt payment. In these situations, it is common for the vehicle owner to become quite irate and violent; thus, it is necessary to complete the tow rather quickly. A quick pick truck provides speed and is preferable in these situations. Unfortunately, this type of tow truck can be costly and their unique “quickness” leads tow truck companies to seek out financing.

Final Words On The Matter

Above are the two most well known forms of tow trucks; however, there are several more featuring different styles, such as the wheel lift truck and the flat bed truck where vehicles are towed without concern for weight or touching the body. As can be deduced, all trucks have special features which contribute to higher prices.

Using tow truck financing would be the most suitable option to acquire these vehicles and much financing can be obtained online via different financing websites. Using this information, you should have an idea of tow truck costs and how they can influence your company.

Cabinets of curiosities (which according to Wikipedia are also known as Kunstkabinett, Kunstkammer, Wunderkammer, Cabinets of Wonder, and wonder-rooms) are collections of extraordinary objects which, in various forms and formats through the centuries, have inspired wonder and the interpretation and re-interpretation of the world. Since the Renaissance, scholars and noblemen collected valuable or unusual objects for study and entertainment. Marvelling at the bounty of nature and the heights of human skill, they sought to rationalise and understand the world, driven by the belief that all things are related to each other. The diverse objects in the cabinets of curiosities represented a microcosm of the world and allowed the top echelon of society to study the world by viewing the objects in close proximity to each other and making unexpected connections between them. Initially displayed in a single cabinet, the collections of curiosities eventually grew into entire rooms filled with cabinets having a dizzying amount of ornate compartments and hidden sub-compartments.

As the collections grew, a classification system was developed based on the broad categories of artificialia, scientifica, exotica, and naturalia – although not every collection displayed all four, as shown by Ferrante Imperato’s Dell’Historia Naturale’s engraving of a natural history cabinet. Broadly speaking, artificialia referred to man-made objects showcasing skills in applied and fine art; scientifica encompassed instruments for the understanding and quantification of the world (such as astrolabes, compasses and globes); exotica covered curious objects from foreign lands; and naturalia focused on the marvels of nature, such as the obligatory stuffed alligator suspended from the ceiling, shells, various plants and minerals, and even an occasional unicorn horn thought to possess magical qualities. (A slight digression about the unicorns. Turns out the horns were actually the tusks of narwhals, the mid-sized Arctic whales who are the unicorns of the sea. There is magic in it after all.)

The artistic representations of cabinets of curiosities often show objects from each classification category, including fine art and sculpture, shells, measuring instruments, dried or stuffed animals, and exotic foreign artefacts and coins.

Subjects treating important themes, such as Brueghel and Rubens’ Allegory of Sight and Van Kessel’s Allegory of Europe, were set within a cabinet of curiosities which itself was an allegory of wonder, knowledge, and skill.

Cabinets of curiosities are of course the precursors of contemporary museums. Using a more sophisticated classification system, museums are still broadly organised along the lines of artificialia, scientifica, exotica, and naturalia. Consider, for example, London’s National Gallery, the Science Museum, British Museum, and the Natural History Museum.

However, cabinets of curiosities are not merely a concept of the past that has been replaced by museums. The thought-invoking collections of marvels are still very much a part of contemporary culture as we continue to make sense of the world. On the opposite end of the spectrum from traditional museums, for example, is the Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Art and Natural History in London (www.thelasttuesdaysociety.org) which exhibits occult drawings, dodo bones, a vast art collection, and a sarcophagus-cum-dining table containing a 19th century human skeleton. In its introductory statement, the museum promises to “present an incoherent vision of the world displayed through wonder enclosed within a tiny space” with no attempt at classification because the collection is “a mirror to a world so suffused with miracles and beauty that any attempt at categorization is bound to fail.” Don’t let the Renaissance Men hear that, but the lack of interpretation is an interpretation in itself.

Art fairs are another contemporary example of cabinets of curiosity on a grand scale. Compartmentalised into temporary rooms loosely categorised by each dealer’s collecting focus, art fairs showcase a vast and diverse collection of art, furniture, and international memorabilia under one roof, inspiring new ideas and associations between objects.

The Cabinet of Curiosities recently took centre stage at the “Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty” exhibition housed at the Met in New York and at the V&A in London and exploring the iconic fashion designer’s creativity and sources of inspiration.

Our homes, where we display an array of objects representing our tastes and interests (including souvenirs collected while travelling, shells picked up on distant shores, and art indicative of our sophisticated or quirky personalities) are in and of themselves cabinets of curiosity.

Social media is another mega-source of cabinets of curiosities. Pinterest, Instagram, Tumbler, and Twitter offer their own micro universes of marvels, each user’s account presenting a separate cabinet of loosely associated curiosities compiled according to the user’s interests and unique interpretation of the interconnection between the images.

Although not adhering to a specific categorisation scheme, social media posts are a mirror of the contemporary world and its tastes, trends, interests, and thoughts. Taking this analogy even further, the Internet as a whole can be viewed as one gigantic cabinet of curiosities. And why not? Let’s face it, curiosities are fun. They make us think. And when gathered together, you never know what extraordinary interconnections they can inspire.

Rembrandt van Rijn, Four Orientals Seated Under a Tree, a drawing in pen and brown ink with brown and grey wash, after 1656, British Museum

One of the best known 17th Century Dutch Masters, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669), was fond of portraying intricate and elaborate costumes. In this drawing of Four Orientals Seated Under a Tree, he is exploring the clothing and customs of the Far East, and using oriental paper as his medium. But why is he doing this and where did he get such detailed information about the Far East? After all, he lived two centuries before steamships and colonial expansion spurred Orientalist works by the likes of Frederick Lewis and Alma-Tadema.

Rembrandt was studying contemporary (17th-century) Mughal miniatures which were imported by the intrepid tradesmen and adventurers of the independent Dutch Republic, notably the Dutch East India Company, who established and dominated trade routes around the globe, including India. Imagine Rembrandt’s excitement upon seeing these Mughal miniatures depict the vibrant world of the Far East, the part of the world of Abraham, David, Sarah and all the Old Testament figures with whose stories he grew up and whom he imagined countless of times when trying to conjure their image for his patrons!

The Four Orientals drawing inspired by the Mughal miniatures in turn likely inspired Rembrandt’s etching of Abraham Entertaining the Angels. The placement of important figures on a rug around a central tray, Abraham’s robe and turban, and the clothing and facial features of the angel on the right all echo the costumes, personal appearance, and hospitality customs portrayed in the miniatures.